Groupers- High Value species in

Aquaculture Industry
Ahemad Sade, Ph.D
Deputy Director-Development
Department of Fisheries Sabah
Malaysia
 Introduction
• Global supply of fishery products in 2014
continues to rise @ estimated annual growth rate
of 2.6% over 2013.
• Aquaculture production: 74.4 million mt (2014)
up by 5.6% compared with 2013.
• Capture Fisheries: more less stagnant approx. 90
million mt.
• World Gross Product is forecasted to grow 3-3.3%
for 2015.
• Fishery markets will continue to be strengthened
accordingly.
 Introduction
• World per capita apparent fish consumption is
projected to reach 17.9 kg in 2020, from 17.1
kg per capita of the average 2008-10.
• The average world price for captured species
is expected to increase by 23 % and for
aquaculture species by a significant 50% by
2020 compared to the average 2008-10.
Aquaculture vs Capture
 Introduction-Groupers
 Family Serranidae, Subfamily Epinephelinae. The serranid Subfamily
Epinephelinae comprises about 160 species of marine fishes in 16
Genera, commonly known as groupers, rockcods, hinds, and
seabasses.

 The Indo-Pacific groupers (110 species) were revised by Randall and

Heemstra (1991). (FAO)

 14 species of groupers that occur in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and

Mediterranean Sea.(FAO)

 These species are of considerable economic value, especially in the

coastal fisheries of tropical and subtropical areas.
 Habitat and Biology
 Groupers are bottom-associated fishes found in the tropical and
subtropical waters of all oceans.
 Most species occur on coral reefs, but some live in estuaries or on rocky
reefs. Generally associated with hard (rocky) bottoms, although juveniles
are found in seagrass beds, and adults of a few species prefer sandy or
silty areas.
 Some species occur in depths of 100 to 200 m (occasionally to 500 m); the
majority inhabit depths less than 100 m, and juveniles are often found in
tide pools.
 As the major predators of the coral-reef ecosystem, most groupers feed on
a variety of fishes, larger crustaceans, and cephalopods.
 13% of all grouper species are considered to be threatened globally
according to the criteria and categories of the IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species™.
 Groupers are especially vulnerable to over-fishing because the large
mating groups they form, known as aggregations, are easily targeted by
fisheries.
 Fisheries of Groupers
Status and trends
• Groupers have become one of the most important aquaculture and traded commodities in the
Asia-Pacific region. It is also an important fish in the livelihoods of small and large-scale coastal
fish farmers. Groupers are considered as a high-value species with a high potential for
contributing to the economic development of these countries. The expanding trade in live
groupers of various ages and stages, whether for aquaculture or for seafood restaurants, has
increased demand since 2006.
• Widely being marketed in live form-Freshness, high quality in terms of nutritional value.
Main sources:
1. Capture fisheries-depleting of resources
2. Aquaculture:
• 1. Wild catches-small size and grow out to marketable size.
• 2. Hatchery production
• Aquaculture technology for each species;
• 1. Brood stock Management-Fair
• 2.Hatchery Technology- mostly established for high commercial value species.
• 3.Nusery and Grow out technology-mostly established
Global Production-Live Seafood Trade
• Live seafood trade of the Asia-Pacific Region: about 40
different groupers species being traded.
• Live Reef Food Fish are supplied by up to 20 countries in
the Asia-Pacific region and at least 60 percent of the
international trade is exported to Hong Kong where as
much as 50 percent is re-exported to mainland China.
• A lot of local seafood is transported live including grouper
in South China, and from Southeast Asia, Europe and
Australia. The majority of the live marine fish consumed in
Hong Kong is imported by sea or air.
• In 2008 the total reported live fish trade in Hong Kong was
38,155T.
 Major Exporter:
• The major grouper fishing nations and their landings in 2001 were:
• Indonesia (52,000 mt); 38.23%
• People’s Republic of China (45,000 mt): 33.08%
• Pakistan (16,000 mt); 11.76%
• Philippines (13,000 mt); 9.56 %, and
• Malaysia (10,000 mt); 7.35%
• It is estimated that 50 per cent of all live reef fish now originates from
Indonesia.
• Australia (600 mt/year): 95% to Hong Kong (mainly Leopard Coral
Grouper) from Queensland
• China's fishing industry is stepping up the worldwide search for new
fishery resources as competition for depleted global fish stocks intensifies
among leading fishing nations.
 Major Importer:

• Hong Kong is the largest consumer of LRFF worldwide, and some 60% of
the trade arrives into Hong Kong by air. Upward pressure on demand is
primarily a result of increasing population and affluence in China. Ethnic
Chinese are the largest consumers of live Grouper, and the global trade is
centered in Hong Kong with up to 60% re-exported into mainland
China. Imports direct into China have increased over recent years.

• In 2008 the import by air of live groupers alone into HK totaled 6,766T
(reported, uncorrected) worth HKD788 million (USD101m). Austrade
reports that in 2009 Hong Kong imported more than 38,000T of live fish.
• Singapore is the second largest market in the region for live groupers,
importing in 2008 1,228T worth SGD14,097,000 (USD10m).
• China imported 6,111T live food fish in 2008 (mainly reef fish), and 7,711T
in 2009.
 Taiwan’s aquaculture investors move to high
value-finfish in China-Groupers
Taiwan-Groupers accounted for US$166 mil (EUR 131.9 mil) of Taiwan’s
US$2 bil (EUR1.6 bil) seafoods export in 2012.

Tilapia producers are shifting from tilapia to Groupers and Cobia.

Taiwan’s Grouper: Concentrated entirely in China & Hong Kong.

Jan-Aug 2014: Export volume to China & HK was 10,964 MT @
99.7% of the total export volume of 11,000 MT.; only 18MT export to
Japan.
China’s recent crackdown on luxurious banquets and the increase in
China’s own domestically farmed grouper, brought down Taiwan’s
export volume & value to China- need long term marketing plan-to
develop domestic & overseas markets beyond China.

Producers are now looking at freezing & processing of groupers

steaks to expand their market.
Main Species Being cultured- in
Asia –Pacific Region
 Epinephelus fuscoguttatus

English common name:

Brown Marbled Grouper

Technology:
1)Brood stock management: Fair
2)Hatchery : Established
3)Grow out: Established
Habitat(s):
Coral reef and rocky bottom
 Epinephelus polyphekadion (Bleeker, 1849)
Synonym : Epinephelus microdon

English common name:

Camourflage grouper

Technology:
1)Brood stock management: Fair
2)Hatchery : Established
3)Grow out: Established
Habitat(s):
Coral reef
 Epinephelus akaara (Temminck and Schlegel, 1842)

English common name:

Hong Kong grouper

Technology:
1)Brood stock management: Fair
2)Hatchery : Established
3)Grow out: Established
Habitat(s):
Rocky areas
 Epinephelus lanceolatus (giant grouper)

English common name:

Giant Grouper

Technology:
1)Brood stock management: Fair
2)Hatchery : Established
3)Grow out: Established
Habitat(s):
Coral reef and estauries
Listed as “vulnerable” in the IUCN
Red List of threatened animals.
That means that the population is
thought to be declining at a rate
of 20% in ten years or three
generations.
 Epinephelus chlorostigma

English common name:

Brownspotted grouper

Technology:
1)Brood stock management: Fair
2)Hatchery : Established
3)Grow out: Established
Habitat(s):
Coral reef and muddy bottom
 Epinephelus malabaricus (Bloch & Schneider,1801)
synonym: Epinephelus salmonoides

English common name:

Malabar grouper

Technology:
1)Brood stock management: Fair
2)Hatchery : Established
3)Grow out: Established
Habitat(s):
Coral reef, rocky reef, estuaries,
mangrove, swamps, sandy and
muddy bottom.
 Epinephelus coioides (Hamilton, 1822)
Synonym: Epinephelus suillus

English common name:

Orange-spotted grouper

Technology:
1)Brood stock management: Fair
2)Hatchery : Established
3)Grow out: Established
Habitat(s):
Estuaries and coastal waters
 Plectropomus oligacanthus (Bleeker, 1854)

English common name:

Highfin coral grouper

Technology:
1)Brood stock management: Fair
2)Hatchery : Established
3)Grow out: Established
Habitat(s):
Coral reef
 Plectropomus melanoleucus(coral trout)

English common name:

Blacksaddled Coral grouper

Technology:
1)Brood stock management: Fair
2)Hatchery : Established
3)Grow out: Established
Habitat(s):
Coral reef

DOFS
 Plectropomus maculatus

English common name:

Spotted Coralgrouper (FAO)

Technology:
1)Brood stock management: Fair
2)Hatchery : Established
3)Grow out: Established
Habitat(s):
Coral reef
@Adult –reddish colour; Juvenile-
greenish grey with blue-spots
 Plectropomus laevis

English common name:

Blacksaddled Coralgrouper

Technology:
1)Brood stock management: Fair
2)Hatchery : Established
3)Grow out: Established
Habitat(s):
Coral reef
 Plectropomus leopardus

English common name:

Leopard Coralgrouper

Technology:
1)Brood stock management: Fair
2)Hatchery : Established
3)Grow out: Established
Habitat(s):
Coral reef
 Cromileptes altivelis

English common name:

Humpback Grouper

Technology:
1)Brood stock management: Fair
2)Hatchery : Established
3)Grow out: Established
Habitat(s):
Coral reef
 Hybrid Groupers-
Juvenile commercially produced in 2010
Coral Hind Brown Marbled Grouper

Hybrid grouper
Humpback Grouper Brown Marbled Grouper

Hybrid grouper
Humpback Grouper Giant Grouper

Hybrid grouper
Coral Rockcod Brown Marbled Grouper

Hybrid grouper
Camourflage grouper Brown Marbled Grouper

Hybrid grouper
Giant Grouper Brown Marbled Grouper

Hybrid grouper
Popular Grouper Species Being Produced by
Borneo Aqua Harvest Bhd. (Sabah)

Sabah Coral Rockcod Sabah Giant Grouper

Sabah Trout Grouper Marble Grouper / Flowery Grouper

Popular Grouper Species Being Produced
by Borneo Aqua Harvest Bhd. (Sabah)

Tomato RockCod Grouper Trout Cod

Barred Cheek Coral Trout Trout Cod

 Popular Grouper Species Being Produced
by Borneo Aqua Harvest Bhd. (Sabah)

Barred Cheek Coral Trout Camouflage Grouper

Coral RockCod Sabah Camourflage Sabah Giant Coral RockCod

 The Future Of Aquaculture

• In 2007/08 the United Nation's Food and Agriculture

Organization (FAO) projected that in order to maintain the
current level of per capita consumption of seafood, global
aquaculture production will need to reach 80 million mt by
2030.
• To meet: require a production increase of approx. 30 million
mt; aquaculture can only fill this gap if it is promoted and
managed in a responsible and sustainable manner.
• Even with inefficient traditional systems, aquaculture
continues to be the fastest-growing animal-food-producing
sector and to outpace population growth, with per capita
supply from aquaculture increasing from 0.7 kg in 1970 to 7.8
kg in 2008, an average annual growth rate of 6.6 percent.
 Trend in Global market demands
 There is an increasing global interest in food safety and traceability,
and there is growing reliance on fish as a base source of nutrition.
 Looking at the expanding China market in particular, there is
increasing demand for clean, safe, quality seafood.
 Groupers fetch higher prices live than any other group of top-grade
fish, and a price of 3-5 times or more is paid for live specimens at
the right size - 600-1000 grams. A premium is also paid on products
with “clean”, “green” and “organic” credentials (10% - 50%
premium for foods carrying China’s Green Food certification),
 Wild-catch supplies of many of the preferred high-value species are
collapsing and are unreliable, and no longer meet the requirements
for ‘clean, safe and traceable’.
 Market demands-China
 Population- 1.3 billion peoples, there are 110 million viable Chinese
consumers - the Consuming China category.
 Its per-capita fish consumption, with an average growth rate of 5.7
percent per year since 1961. 80% of wealthy Chinese consumers are below
45 years old, and the wealthy spend 17% of their household income on
dining out.
 Consuming China will grow to some 270 million a decade from now, with
average household consumption rising from US$5,000 to US$10,000 in
that time.
 These younger consumers are aware of environmental issues affecting
their food supply and prefer green, clean product.

 Since then production has been steadily rising with increasing global
demand. Generally, groupers are a popular food fish and it is estimated
that the market demand may reach more than 200,000 mt per year in
2020.
 Wholesale Prices of Fresh Marine Fish on 2015/02/17
Fish Price Information: * Castle Peak Wholesales Fish Market; Other Markets
(All prices shown here are for reference only)
Click to see the weekly average wholesale price trend
Wholesale Price (USD@HK$/Kg)

English Name Scientific Name

Highest Lowest Average
Brown Epinephelus US$53.30@ US$21.45@ US$30.03@
Marbled fuscoguttatus 410.00 165.00 231.17
Grouper
Brown- Epinephelus areolarus US$41@ US$19.37@ US$27.17@
spotted 315.00 149.00 209.00
grouper
Camouflage Epinephelus US$43@ US$23@ US$33.30@
Grouper Polyphekadion 331.00 175.00 255.67

Green Epinephelus coioides US$39.65@ US$11.70@ US$21.45@

grouper 305.00 90.00 164.67

Leopard coral Plectropomus US$107.50@ US$47.50@ US$81.90@

grouper leopardus 827.00 365.00 629.33
 Main Issues-For future development
 Broodstock management- mostly rely on wild resources
 Formulated feeds with high protein levels require.
 limited availability of fingerlings. Rely almost totally on wild-caught fry and fingerlings for
stocking.
 Mortality due to inappropriate handling techniques during collection, transport and storage of
collected fish, and sometimes by an unregulated management of the wild stocks.
 lack of appropriate techniques for efficient grouper culture to marketable sizes.
 A major production constraint is heavy mortality of groupers during the collection and culture
phases due to handling stress and diseases. High mortality rates occur in the early larval stages
and larval cannibalism is rampant. Farmed fish are also often prone to diseases (especially viral
diseases and parasitic infestations).

 Responsible aquaculture at the production level should be practised in accordance with the
main principles of environmental and ecological protection – see Article 9 of the FAO Code of
Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, Asian-Good Agriculture Practices (Asian-GAP)

 Unsustainable and illegal practices-cyanide

 THANK YOU
TERIMA KASIH